on the run chapter 1
by sophieAbigail
Summary: this is not fanfic, sorry. But it is a story about love, sacrifice, friendship, and adventure. I wrote this and I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

**The texts**

**One week ago….**

**My name Emily Collins and this is the most haunting story of my life that will forever give me nightmares.**

**My life so far had been great, apart from the fact that my mom had died a few years previous. My dad was very hard working, always at work apart from May, moms last month. We didn't know much about her, apart from that she made a lot of money and had an extremely busy job; dad wouldn't tell us what it was. But even so, we got on with our lives. We lived in a three bedroom home with a big backyard. Our uncle lived with us too, my mom's brother. Life was really great until last Thursday….**

**It was a Thursday evening in May and I was at home with my best friend Kelly and my twin brother Max. **

**Kelly is quite short with bright blonde hair that reaches her hips, light skin, and shocking blue eyes. On the other hand, there is me and Max. We share our olive skin tone and pale grey eyes, that's where it stops. He has chocolate brown hair like my mom whereas I have black curly hair like my dad. I have a birthmark in the shape of a heart on my neck, Max has lots of freckles (Girls he had dated loved them). Max is really tall and loves sports; I am just below the average height and would rather stay indoors, in my pajamas and get lost in a book.**

**We were in my bedroom listening to our favorite band, Heltic Glow while going over our lines for our school play on Friday; Hamilton. When Kelly and I were seven, we were introduced to drama and acting and have continued with it ever since. Living room plays, make-believe and during the summer we would take the small wooden crates that were scattered around my back garden out the front and make a stage out of them and perform skits we wrote with her dad, Lucas. He would say "toiminta" (action in Finnish, as he was from Finland) for our plays and was an actor himself so that was cool. He taught us Finnish too, not too hard if you try hard enough. As I was saying, the play Hamilton, I got the part as Eliza and Kelly got the part as Angelica. Since we were younger we have been inseparable, a package that if you tried to separate you would find yourself in a rubbish bin nearby in the time-space of don't even think of trying that again. So there we were, practicing lines for our roles. "ohmigosh, ohmigosh, Emmy! I'm going to mess up!" Kelly said in a frantic state. "No you won't" Max comforted her. He had always looked up to her, she had been through so much over the last few years and her parents were still fighting over custody for her and her seventeen-year-old brother Adam. Adam was tall, unlike his sister. He had the same light hair but with bright green eyes. All the girls in my year were into him, I didn't find myself interested because I've known him since I can remember and have always seen him as a brother. "You're going to do great," Max said once again reassuring her "Thanks Max, you are gonna do a really good job as Aaron Burr" she replied. My brother also signed up for the auditions and got a role but I think it was only to go get closer to Kelly. "We got to be leaving soon," Adam said from the corner of the room. "Yeah, I know, just another two minutes. I can't believe it is tomorrow" she babbled "Yeah, this is going to be a bit hectic," I said but really, I didn't mind. I loved the nervous rush you get before ShowTime and then everything seems to fall into place, my nerves vanish into thin air, the stage beams with lights that make it look marvelous, and then these words of amazement fill my head saying ****_you belong here. _****I believe those words like you believe your parents when they say ****_don't go near the fire, it will burn you. _****My heart goes on fire when I set foot on the stage, but it doesn't burn me, it ignites me with this amazing feeling some may call confidence. That's what acting is to me. "Well I better get going, we have an hour's bus ride to get to my dad's house, but I will see you tomorrow at school and then… THE PLAY!" she beamed. I checked my watch, it was quarter past six, ****_huh_**** I thought ****_dinner in ten. _****Good, because I was starving after all that practice. Adam walked over to me and said "I really need to talk to you Emmy, ****_Alone_****" The other two heard this and walked out of the room. "Wow this is gonna be hard, but Emmy?" he said trying to grab my attention. Crap, no romance. As lovely as it is to read and write about, I couldn't deal with it myself. Don't get me wrong, being sixteen, I have been on a few dates alright but I gave up on it since, well, you know, I'm not really good at the kissing bit. I could kind of predict what was going to happen next, as anyone would I guess. But really I couldn't take it. "Adam, is this a love confession?" I asked in this tiny voice. His face went bright red "Maybe…" "Tomorrow, the old fair hut, nine pm. I am really sorry if this is kind of rude but we have listeners" I said in a quiet, gentle voice. "Okay," he said clearly embarrassed. We left the room and found the others outside near the door. "Told you" I mumbled to Adam. We went downstairs and got some club lemonade, and then Kelly and Adam had to go. They headed for the bus stop shortly afterward. I went into the kitchen where I smelt shepherd's pie and there it was, on the table, lucky guess. Uncle Peter (my mom's brother who lived with us) was sitting at the table. I sat down at my usual seat and gazed out the window at the back garden, at the old swing set Max and I used to play on when we were younger, at the outdoor table we'd have dinner at during the summer, at the flowers that gently danced in the light breeze, in a daze. Completely lost in thought I didn't notice my dad talking to me "Emmy?" he asked snapping back to reality. "Oh, hi, what's up?" I asked in a state of confusion. "I thought we could have dinner outside? Yeah?" he inquired. "Yeah, that's a good idea" I responded. I knew why he was suggesting this, trying to make an effort to comfort my brother and me. In two days it will be five years since my mother passed away, and it was really hard for him to bring it up. We were only nine when she had a heart attack, and yet we can both remember it as if it happened yesterday. "I'm going to set the table," I say to break the silence "Okay, I'll tell Max," he said as he wandered off. I went outside with mats, knives, and forks and laid them out neatly then I went back inside and grabbed the plates with dinner on them and set them down on the mats. I walked back inside to hear muffled sobs coming from the living room. I sneaked over to the slightly open door and saw my brother in my dad's arms crying. ****_He was hurting._**

**We all sat down for dinner. It was awkward because no one could find the right words to bring up mom's Memorial Day. "So Max, Emmy, got all your lines ready your big night tomorrow?" Peter asked trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "All good," he said, and the night went on**

**Later that evening, I headed up to bed. It was half ten and I wanted to get plenty of rest for tomorrow. I lay down and tried to find sleep but failed. I was thinking about Adam, about what he said earlier. What would dad think of me going out with a year older boy? Surely not much, right? He'd known Adam and Kelly's parents even before I was born, so I hope he wouldn't mind. I just couldn't sleep. I decided to go on my computer for a while, update my poetry blog. I went online and began typing. There were beautiful poems up that I was very proud of. But then I noticed a new account pops up. I check his work out, he as a writer, a beautiful one…**

**_I want to hold her hand,_**

**_But she pulls away,_**

**_And I'm sure if I tried to make a move,_**

**_She wouldn't want the same._**

**It was so sweet; the users' name was ****_Mr. Above. _****It was really good, the rest of his poems I mean. But it was really late now, I went back to bed.**

**I was in bed for about an hour and a half when my phone buzzed. I open it and find a text from a withheld number saying:**

**Give me the information on satellite **

**Asclepius or she gets it.**

**And had a picture of Kelly gagged and bound by rope to a pole and held at gunpoint! Adam was in the background with tears streaming down his face, cut all over him. He wouldn't go down without a fight. Kelly and Adam looked so scared; I didn't know what information he was talking about. Then he sent another text saying:**

**Don't even bother ignoring it; I know you're awake,**

**I put caffeine in your chocolate milk while you went **

**To get your family for dinner. **

**Hand it over tomorrow at Rockfield park**

**There is a big Ferris wheel **

**One of my men will be there to collect it **

**You got 24 hours**

**Tell anyone and we'll know, keep it a secret.**

**Oh no! What was I going to do! This was terrible. The guy who supposedly like likes me and my best friend. I needed someone to help. Well, I had a brother who was up for helping, but would they really know if I told him? Surely they were just bluffing, Right? Bluffing or not, I couldn't do this on my own. I creep across the landing to his room and knocked on the door. "Max?" I called quietly. "Uh huh," he mumbled back clearly not being able to sleep either. "I need your help, Can you keep a secret?"**


	2. Chapter 2

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The mission/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Are you kidding?" he asked shocked. "No, of course, I'm not kidding you, look at this!" I showed him the picture, and his face paled. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""No no no no no…" he moaned. "This cannot be happening…" "Well, it is," I said with a bitter edge to my voice. Why was I so angry? I brought him into this by choice, where was this coming from? "And you know nothing about this satellite whatsoever?" he questioned "No, not at all," I said disappointedly. "Well then they are going to…" his voice cracked before he could say the last word "They are going to die"/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We sat in silence trying to come up with a plan. "Wait, remember your friend Wesley's mums, Monica? Didn't she study Neuroscience? Bringing back old memories from when you are younger, maybe there was something we were told as a kid" I remarked "Your right, we could head over right now, you know cause it's the middle of the night" Max said sarcastically. "We have less than twenty-four hours to give him the info he wants, if we don't he kills Kelly and Adam. I'm wondering why he wants it. We em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"need /emto go, now" I defend. "Fine, let's go," he said./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I went to pack a little before we went; inside I had a torch, baseball bat (you can never be too safe) a wallet containing two hundred euro and a spare change of clothes. We went into the bathroom and opened the window so we could go down the pipe along the wall. "Since when did you become a spy kid?" he inquired. "One name, Jordan" I responded. "Ahhh, your ex…" he mumbled. "Shut up Max," I said. We climbed down the pole to the bottom and hopped the garden fence onto the main road. "Remember the way?" I asked unsure of where to go. "Yeah, come on," he said and began to sprint north. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We arrived at the house in less than seventeen minutes. It was large with a big garden full of trees, raspberry bushes, strawberry plants, and rhubarb beds. "Wow," I said speechless. "We don't have all night, El" Max reminded me. We rang the doorbell and a very sleepy Monica came to the door. "Max, goodness. What are you doing here?!" she asked surprised. "We need you to do your neuroscience on Emmy" he blurted out. "At a quarter to one in the morning, you know what I am suspicious but I am really too tired to be bothered to ask. Get in" she said grumpily. It was really weird seeing Monica like this, she is usually lively and bubbly. We headed on inside through the hall and into her living room. It was neat and tidy with two blue velvet sofas with light sky blue walls, it was simple but pretty. She told me to lay down on one of the sofas and will begin the process. "Okay, you need to think of a time you were really happy," she said slowly "Cool," I said back. My happiest thought was when I was nine and my mom came home from work (some nights she didn't because work was so busy) and she had brought me a rabbit. When she saw my face as I lay eyes on it, her face lit up. It always made me feel strong, thinking of her smiling. "Alright, now I want you to dig further into memories, you will say you can't but you can, trust me, trust yourself" I trust her. I go deeper into the mind, Searching, looking for a string that will lead me to the information I supposedly have. And then everything clicks, I see this sort of vision kind of thing. Max and I are peeking through the door of the kitchen; we must be around nine, the year mum died./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Mom, dad, and Uncle Peter were in the kitchen arguing about something. "Come on Lacey, you need to get rid of the information before someone gets rid of you!" my dad was shouting "Come on Ryan, this might just humanities biggest breakthrough! We could buy the human race Billions of more years on this planet!" she shouted back at them. "Ryan, Lacey I think we should take this outside," Peter said calmly, eyeing the door. "I agree I don't want the kids to hear," dad said. They walked out into the back garden and resumed their argument. Meanwhile, Max and I sneaked upstairs to moms study to see her work plans, we were very inquisitive children. I began reading her notebook and Max was exploring her shelves. The notebook read this.../span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I just finished my call with the head of NASA and we both agree that the information I have found out should stay classified from the rest of the team until further notice./span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Arron style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span202+ 907 673 8892/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I flicked through more pages…/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Satellite Asclepius:/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Through our signaling experiment, we have found a type of stone; alophis. It is in the core of the earth and can withstand its heat. Turns out the top layer of mars is made out of the same thing except elophis (the rock on Mars) can control alophis with the right signaling. Alophis can heal the earth's atmosphere or destroy it with a flick of a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWe decided to hide them at these coordinates: Latitude: 38.41801, Longitude: 9.65791, Distortion: 1.63/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I know I will be killed soon so I leave this upon my family and will be forever ashamed for leaving this upon them but never ashamed of my amazing discovery. I asked Arron to cover my death up as a heart attack if it comes to that, I know it will. /span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Lacey Boswell/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Suddenly I am back in Monica's living room, hyperventilating, with Max staring at me with a worried look. "What did you see?" he asked. This is what I managed to get out: "Mom…working…NASA…satellite heals earth…mom…..death….no heart-attack….killed!"/span/strong/p 


	3. Chapter 3

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The Rescue /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Come again?" he asked. I tried to slow my breathing. "Mom worked for NASA and never died of a heart attack, she was killed. Satellite Asclepius can destroy the earth or heal it, this is what he wants" I gasped. "Max? Emmy? What is going on, your mum, what's it about your mum being killed?" Monica questioned suddenly out of her daze. "Nothing got to get going" I said in a hurry. "Yeah, dad'll be looking for us, thank you very much Monica" Max chimed in. We walked to the door and I opened it, and we stepped out. "Come back tomorrow, Okay? I want an explanation on what just happened, yeah?" she called as we walked away. "Yes Ma'am" Max called back. We began to walk back home until I stopped Max halfway. "There was a phone number, the head of NASA's I think, and I can remember it. Why don't we call…? Arron, I think his name was Arron, he might help us?" I asked. "I bet your phone is bugged to see if you are getting help, we should use an open phone box" Max said. "Okay, let's go"/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We headed to the village where we saw staggering men coming out of the pub and gangs of teenagers running around. It was old, an old village, aged homes, and stores. But just then we heard screaming. High pitch, girly screams. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Kelly? Kelly!" Max began shouting at the top of his lungs. "It's Max! Keep screaming Kelly! We're coming!" He shouted. The screams became louder as we approached the old fair hut where couples went on Hallowe'en. The ear piercing screams became loud cries in pain. "STOP! Don't hurt me! NOOOOOOO! Don't hurt him either, you idiot!" a girl shrieked. It was Kelly, definitely Kelly. I wave of relief washed over me, it felt like nothing I'd felt before. She was alive, she was okay, I could not have been happier. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We crept around the back and peered through the fogged windows. I examined the room. It was dim and dusty with a flickering lightbulb lighting the whole room. There! I saw Adam and in seconds he saw me too. His face was tense but you could see it relaxed a bit. But all it took to change that face was a hand on my shoulder and a cloth over my mouth with a sickeningly sweet smell./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We woke up bound to a radiator with rope. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Great/em I thought em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"how were we going to get out of this one. /emA low moan comes from beside me. It was Adam. "Emmy, I'm so glad you're awake, we have been here about an hour and I was just starting to lose track of time, I was so worried bout' you, I need to talk to you later. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Alone/em. Please. But first, we need to get out of here. I should warn you don't freak out but we are dealing with…" but before he could finish his sentence a man entered the room, hidden by shadows. He was tall and stocky from what I could see and seemed very strong. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No wonder Adam couldn't beat him. /emAnother man walked into the room and knocked out Adam and took him away. But once the shadowed man stepped into the light I froze. My Heart skipped a good few beats. Uncle Peter. The man I only saw about an hour ago in my vision. "What the bloody hell!" I spat at him. "You…..you…you're the one who kidnapped my friends, and sent those texts" I paused "You're the one who killed my mom!" I shouted, disgusted. "Only for the right reasons, NASA weren't going to do much with the/span/strong strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Asclepius satellite anyway, I only know so much about the rock, so tell me, Emmy, what does it do?" he asked. I hesitated. "Tell me Evelyn or you will be knocked out and will wake up with no boyfriend, best friend, brother and father!" he shouted. "It….it can control the atmosphere, wait, you got dad, Oh my word. You are such a monster! Don't hurt them! Please! That's all I know! I just found out my mom was an astronomer!" I yell. He shouted a few curses and then said "she is no longer useful, dispose of her"/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"He walked out of the room, left me alone in the silence./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Minutes went by, minutes that led to hours. I began to cough as this cloud of smoke drifted into my room. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dispose of her/em he said, what he meant was get rid of her and the rest in a fire./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The smoke just grew thicker and thicker. My lungs were burning; my eyes began to prick with tears, not just because of the smoke but at the thought of the people who were going down with me. Time passed, it just got worse. I realized the rope was not tight enough, there was room to get out, and I pushed and wiggled my way out of it. Finally! I was out! I crept to the door. There was no one guarding it. Idiots. I tiptoe out of the room and through the hallway. There was pounding coming from one room. I tried to open the door it was locked. I began thrashing at the door, jumping on it to knock it down, I was lucky since this hut/cottage was so old I could knock it down. I saw Adam. Thrashing around until he noticed me. He looked so pleased, so reassured that we had got it this time. I unbound him and he hugged me. I hugged him back. He whispered into my ear: "I thought I was going to lose you and Kelly, I couldn't bare it" Although it was only seconds I wanted to stay there safe in someone arms with no fears of people trying to kill the people I love. But I had to pull away./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""They are keeping Kelly and Max in the same room in the attic cause he wouldn't shut up 'til he found out she was okay" Adam said. Classic Max. We sneaked up to the attic and found the door that was separating us from them. The stairs looked dodgy, unstable. When we reached the door Adam tried to open it. It was locked. "I can do it, I can pick it" he said self-assuredly. I pulled a long chip of wood from the decaying walls and handed it to him. "Might want to hurry up, the fire is spreading real fast" I warned. He opened it and the next thing I knew I was in a bear hug with Max. Dad was in the back of the room them tied up. He calmed as we went to untie him but just then Peter walked in on us. Oh no. Gun in hand./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Don't shoot, please!" Adam pleaded. But he was ignored. Peter was going to pull the trigger. It was going to be the end. It was like I was watching his finger curl round it in slow-motion. He did pull it, but I didn't get hit, my dad did. He jumped in the way in the very last second. Hit right in the heart. He slumped to the ground. "…." I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I kneeled beside him. His eyes were fixed on me full of love, full of pain, and then nothing. He was gone. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMy dad the one who tried to protect me and Max, the one who held a terrifying secret for so many years, my dad now dead. I sat in style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" It's not real/em I thought. It was. Not a dream, not a night mare but it was rock hard reality. Adam had already jumped onto Peter giving him a good fight (it was what he was good at) we realised without peter not being dead or in jail or his men still out there, we were never going to be safe. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We climbed out of the attic window and down the roof. There was a small jump that we all made. Once we were down we ran, as far away and as fast as possible. The hut went up in flames, strong and tall. The fire brigade was already at the scene in minutes. I no longer had my bag and it was unsafe to go back home so we ended up in a squat. But we had to keep on the move./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"My name is Emily Collins. This is my story so far. I can't say where I am going but I am on a plane, to find a man named Arron Lockwood. I would say that the day you just heard about was the scariest thing of my life, but it's not. Every day is scarier than the next. Chilling me to the bone with fear, tearing apart my insides with grief, and most of all reassuring me with hope, I am hopeful that we will find someone who will help me find out more about my mom. Someone with high enough power to find Peter and give him a sentence. But for now we are on the run./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p 


	4. Chapter 4

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The journey/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Today…./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Adam is asleep; his head on my shoulder, Kelly is across the aisle with max and a stranger, same for Adam and me. We went to Adams grandparents who lived close by and borrowed money so we could get clothes, food, flights and places to stay along the way. They pulled out a check for one thousand seven hundred euro and handed it to us, the thanked them gratefully. We are on a flight from Ireland to America; it was two hundred and forty pp so we paid nine hundred and sixty for our flights. And here we are five hours into our five and a half hour flight. "Hey El" Adam murmurs beside me, smiling. So let me fill you in: while we were living in the squat Adam confessed his love for me. Although when he tried to do it at first I was going to turn him down but he grew on me. But he didn't just confess that he loved me, he confessed he was em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" . /emThe love poet that was popping up on my laptop the night of the texts. And then we kissed for a while (I guess I'm better at it than I thought I was) then it was really late and we grabbed two pillows and two blankets and headed our separate ways. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Hi" I say "Have a nice nap" "Yep, did I snore?" he asked with a big, cute smile on his face. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"God, I am so lucky to be with him. /em"No, well, just tiny, quiet, adorable snores" I giggle. I just seem so happy around him, even Max says so."Our flight will be landing soon, please turn off your mobile phones and hold tight" the air hostess says over the intercom. "I gonna hold you tight" he says snickering. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"There! He does it again!/em I giggle. Although he is a year older than me, we still work; we just need to go slower. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We arrive in Washington airport soon enough and decide to go get some clothes and food. We collect our very small luggage: bras and underwear for the girls and boxers for the boys. There is a small café in the airport where we get a small breakfast. We get a bus out to town and find ourselves in a local thrift store. We want to save our money because it will need to last us until we find Arron. We get an old, large suitcase to carry our stuff in and each get to pick out four sets of clothing. I pick a flowery dress with sandals/ a light pink em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"puma/em t-shirt, hot pink hoodie and denim shorts/ skinny jeans and a blouse/ an off branded, black jacket, white t-shirt and black leggings. Adam picked the same outfit four times; white t-shirt, black shorts. And so did Max, Kelly picked all running gear. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"As we leave the shopping area, Kelly lets out once again another scream. She is being dragged away by two men, and max the same. What is going on? We chase after them but we are not fast enough, they get hauled into a van, and the van drives off. Out of breath Adam and I stop. "They're gone" he said his face pale "Gone, gone, gone" I say as tears prick at my eyes, but I bite them back, I have no time for my water works to turn on right now, not while Max and Kelly are in danger. A group if sketchy teenagers are hanging around on motorbikes with cigs. "Adam, remember late last summer when your dad was teaching how to ride his motorbike? Do you think we could borrow a bike of them?" I say indicating the group of teens. "Probably not, but what's the harm trying?"/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We walk over to them and I say in my best sexy, American accent: "Hey, we have six hundred and twenty dollars on us and were wondering if we could borrow you bike for half an hour or so, we will give you the money and my phone number so you can call us then when you need them, ya know? I promise I won't leave a scratch on it" and one of them responds with "They are not even ours, we stole them" He looks ashamed, especially when he looked me in the eye, Adam tensed up beside me. The boy has light caramel hair with brown almond shaped eyes, with a wild look to them. "I will still give you the money but we get to put em' back then" I drawl. The boy who was ashamed looks me dead in the eye again. "You can take my brothers, but I want to come with, I saw you chasing after those men, I'm Levi. I'm coming or you don't get any bikes, I don't need the money" he says. One of the boys is in utter shock (I assume he is his brother) but then everyone apart from Levi bursts out laughing. "Give me a sec" I say as I pull Adam over to the side to talk to him, and as I do this I can hear all the older teens teasing Levi like: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Levi! She already gots a lover!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt's not love at first sight if it's love second hand/emspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Calm down, it's just an act, we need to follow them and lucky for us the traffic is bad so the truck is still in sight and we got ride with an extra person, who I think is willing to fight. Come on Adam, I'm with you, we got it" I whisper "Okay" he says and relaxes. But only slightly./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I share a bike with him and Levi is right behind us as we go after the car. My arms are tightly wrapped around Adam, when he speeds up I hold on tighter, I can just feel him smile./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We arrive at this new apartment area, brand-new because there are still construction workers on the other side./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"We begin to sneak round the back when I am consumed by a soft scent and flashy blue waves fill my vision and then….it feels like I'm reliving a memory but this is new. It feels like I am reliving another memory but I have never seen this one…/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I get glimpses of what is happening, Kelly is with me, she is telling me to saying goodbye, we are in a bare room, pure white but there in blood on the walls, she has a gun, she has cuts all over herself, Max is there, he also has cuts, she aims the gun at him…and…and…..and…/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I am awake, my head on Adams lap, hyperventilating, a vision. But how is that possible? "Emmy! Wake up! Please!" Adam is sobbing loudly. "Adam" I sit up "I'm okay, I'm okay" He is crying, he looks so upset. The sky is a lot darker than earlier "How long was I out?" I ask, fearing the answer "three hours and twenty minutes" Levi speaks up behind me. Adam is still/span/strong strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"bawling, I lean up, and I kiss him. It's not like any kiss I have had before, this kiss spoke words: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm sorryspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI'm here now babyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanwe are style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/emBut most of all it said em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I love you and will never let you go./em We pulled after a while; he looked at me, then hugged me and whispered "I thought I was going to lose you, you went all pale and then your heart went real slow, your eyes were all glazed over, you fainted" as we un-envelope from each other I tell him: "Adam, I think I had a vision, not a good one, like the one I told you about, when I went to retrieve my old memories, but of the future. I think they are manipulating Kelly to kill Max. I know it sound bizarre but I saw Kelly aiming a gun at Max and they were covered in blood, the look in her eyes, I'm telling you, please believe me Adam" I tell him half crying half talking. I know I probably sound mad, but he is my boyfriend, he is always meant to be on my side. Adam now has stopped crying completely and is backing away from me; his expression changed completely. "Are you sure?" he asks me while giving a disbelieving look at Levi. Levi just shrugs it off. "Why don't you believe me?!" I shout at him, now I must look like I am mad, I want to stop it but I can't control it. "I do, I do and I just think fainting took a lot out of you, you should rest for a bit babe. It's late now; we can get them in the morning, we just need to rest. I will go grab some food from around the corner" he said backing away, turning and sprinting towards the take away between the chemist and jewellers. I turn to Levi; he is gazing down at me with his beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "I believe you" he said "Why would you believe me? Even my own bloody boyfriend doesn't!" I holler, but I can't stay tough for so long, I kneel down and cry. He comes up to me and holds me. "I believe you because I know you can see what going to happen, because I can do this" he whispered and then all of a sudden I was holding thin air, like Levi has just gone. And there I am back in his arms again. "What just happened?" I ask astonished "I became invisible, simple. My dad who I think you might be looking for, Arron, has been looking for you" he says coolly, like it was nothing. "Sorry Emily that must have come down very heavy, I knew it was you when I saw your birthmark, Dad always spoke about it when I was small" he says. We continue to speak as heavy footsteps approach us, Adam. "I got you some noodles, feeling better?" he asks "Fine thanks, sorry I got mad, I just thought you didn't believe me" I say as I out a forkful of noodles into my mouth. But something is off about them, they don't taste like noodles, they taste sweet. I sniff the box they came in and am in dead shock of what is wrong with them. I wish I known sooner, from all the nights I used to have this to help me sleep when mom died, sleeping drug./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Adam! What have you done!" I roar, but I already feel weaker, my eyes are shutting when Adam draws out a gun and points it at Levi. I get up determined to stop him, but I just stagger around until the darkness takes over./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p 


	5. Chapter 5

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The betrayal /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I wake up in a plain white room with blood stains, plain white floors and a locked window. I've been here before, not physically but mentally. I saw this before, and Adam would not believe me when I told him. Adam! He is why I am here! The little back stabbing bastard! Is he working with Peter or is he just trying to protect me? Protect me from Peter and…..Levi! em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Shit!/em Is he even still alive? I have to face it, Adam is not trying to protect me; he is trying to kill me. What about Max and Kelly? He is going to make her kill him in front of me! "LET ME OUT" I roar and a throw myself at the door, silently pleading it will open. Not all wishes come true. I continue to bash the door and bark all sorts of things till' my lungs are half broken. I stop. Tears stream down my face now, so I let the waterworks turn on, there is no point shutting them off, I need to cry. I need to cry because the last two weeks have been the most eventful, sorrowful, grieving, darkest and saddest moments in my whole entire life. I lost my dad; one of the most important figures in my life. I have been betrayed by my blood, Peter, the only person who would ever talk about mom in pride. I feel like I have lost Kelly, she has been manipulated into thinking Max and I are the ones to be against, she will always mean a lot to me, no matter what she does. I might have lost Levi, god knows where he is, but I cannot lose Max. Adam and Kelly will not kill him, not over my dead body. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I lay here for hours, no food, no water, my throat as dry as the Sahara desert. I can tell my eyes are all puffy, they are so sore. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Click /emgoes the latch on my door and in walks Max and Kelly. They look just like they did in my little vision with cuts that streak along their faces. Max looks the worst I have ever seen him; the bags under his eyes could carry all the tears I've cried tonight (I have cried a lot) He looks like he is in a lot of pain, bruises all over his legs and face and arms and everywhere really. It feels like it's not Kelly and Max I'm looking at, just two strangers. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""What's going on Kelly?" I ask trying to sound as innocent as possible, because if I didn't I would have spat at her: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You little bitch! How dare yourself and Adam betray us, I might as well just take your bloody gun and shoot myself and Max, it would make this situation a hell of a lot style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/emBut I don't. Kelly says nothing, nor does Max. "Max, what is happening?" I hiss. "I am here to say goodbye" he says loudly "Kelly? I would like a moment alone with my sister" he says demandingly. Kelly evilly smirks and says "Se on vain teko" and walks out of the room. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Se on vain teko. /emFinnish! It means: it's just an act. Oh my god, she is acting. "Emmy" Max breathes out as he pulls me in for once again, another one of his bear hugs. "It's all an act, that's what Kelly just said" I whisper "Who hurt you?" "Peter, I'm okay, listen, I saw something I should not have seen" he says dead serious "I saw his plan. He is going to make this lad called Levi hack into NASA's data base, since the kid is good at it. Then, he is going to take the info in the satellite and use it, to destroy earth, but we are going to try stopping him. Our plan is since we know Levi can turn invisible, which is so cool; we shared a cell with him for a while, Kelly is going to open his cell door and he is going to sneak out and knock out Peter and both his men. We don't know what to do after that but we will come up with something, and Emmy, I don't know if I should be the one to tell you this but I am going to because you are my sister, well half-sister…"/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p 


	6. Chapter 6

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The shock/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I am at the phase of yeah em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"he is/em em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"kidding, right? /em"Mom had an affair, With Arron, and you are not Dad's child, you are Arron's, this doesn't change anything between…" he trails off after seeing the shock on my face. My dad is not my dad, my brother was never my brother, he was a half-brother. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, no. My not by blood dad has been more to a dad to me than Arron ever has been, I didn't even know he existed until a week ago! /emTears flood my vision once more; they come because of the heartbreak. I was brought up by a stranger, loved for by a man who apparently was my dad. "Did he know?" I ask "Did dad know he was not my dad?" there is a part of me, longing for that to be true. "No, you just happened to have dark curly hair like his, like Aarons…" and then he goes into a little speech about even though we might not have the same dads, he still loves me. I love him too, just I can't focus. That means Levi is also my half-brother. God, two half-brothers! How am I going to manage?! I thought one brother was enough./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Kelly barges into the room saying she has to kill him now, she has a gun in her hand. "Aion ampua seinän, ei Max" Kelly says bitterly, it is just an act, just an act. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Aion ampua seinän, ei Max/em that means she will shoot the wall, not Max. Max leans against the wall facing Kelly, looking deep into her eyes; it was a look of love and trust. For a split second I am worried that she might actually shoot him, but she wouldn't, would she? I don't want to wait for the answer./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"She lifts the gun up to face the wall beside Max, but I can see it aims em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"at/em him. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I saw this happen earlier. /emShe is going to shoot him and it is my destiny to jump in front of that bullet, just like dad did for me. Max will be alone if I do it, and I will have no Max if I don't. I go through the em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"vision/em in my head, it looked like I was taking the bulletem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", but I wasn't!/em I was pushing Kelly before she shot the bullet! I just can feel my heart pounding in my chest, I am worthy. This is a leap worth taking, anything for Max. Now I jump…/span/strong/p 


	7. Chapter 7

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The push/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 28.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Älä ammu häntä narttua!" I shout as I shoot through the air, like an arrow; my confidence the bow that releases me. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Don't shoot him you bitch! /emI have never said anything to Kelly like that, ever. I knew that would crack her walls a bit, she looks appalled. We are too close to have ever said a word like em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"narttu /emto each other, even in our worst fights. /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I swivel through the air with all the force my body can pull, and I know I have never been this strong. I am stronger than the little girl, Emmy, I was a week ago, I am Emily Collins, the girl who watched her dad die, the girl who has two half-brothers, the girl who was lied to, the girl who saw this moment exactly in her head, the girl who has become something more than someone who sits around all day in pjs, reads books and drinks too much hot chocolate. I have become the girl who will save her brother./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"All the power I wield hits Kelly so hard she flies across the room with me, so fast. I land quickly and hard, it hurts, but it hurts good. It's the pain that has purpose, its pain that make me feel like a someone; A hero. But the hurt is more than that, I am yelping. She did pull the trigger, and it did hit someone, it hit me, in my shoulder. I am here tears flowing down my cheeks. I have never felt such agony ever, even mentally after mom died. I have to keep going, there is no time to stop./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Max is already running to the door, as if he knows my next move. I snap my head to look at Kelly, she is unconscious. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Thank god /emI think, now I need to find Levi. I quickly assess my damage, my upper left cheek had a long, deep cut, and my leg seems to hurt quite a lot, that bullet in my shoulder will be the let-down of my run, it hurts so much. But I don't have time for this; I just have to hope that my adrenaline keeps my from feeling the entire pain./span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 390.6pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Yu Gothic UI Semilight','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"I am now sprinting after Max, as fast and my aching limbs will take me. The corridors are all white, and all of a sudden make me realize how cold I am. I am running in a pink em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"puma/em t-shirt and denim shorts, I don't care, think of fire, you are warm. I see Max ahead of me, running as if I am the hungry tiger behind him. Then I hear something, my name, "Emmy! Come here!" calls the voice I recognise instantly, Levi. I call Max to follow me, he turns around and follows. Black spots start to shade my vision, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"keep going/em. We track his calls, taking turns and twists, the time flying by, I begin to fall, so weak, so cold, so close to darkness in white. I realise he has me, lifting me out of the colourless building site, Levi. Uncontrollable relief flows through me as Levi lifts me outside. He is so strong and runs me through the many corridors and flights of stairs until we reach the entry door. I see a big black jeep and Max inside with the window rolled down calling us forward. I look up at my new half-brother with appreciation. Max opens the door and Levi lays me down inside. "Where are we going? To Aaron?" I squeak, my throat was still dry. "Don't need to, he is already here" Levi says with exhaustion. "I don't believe we have met, Emmy, I am Aaron, your birth father" says the driver in the front. My head is fuzzy, but just before I begin to slip I manage to say "Dad?"/span/strong/p 


End file.
